Recently I had my dream come true of getting a publisher for my debut novel. Once I’d calmed down enough to start making some sense again one of the first things I did was email the team at the Writers’ … Continue reading →

How to build a writing habit I first met novelist Rosie Garland ten years after she’d started writing fiction. With four and a half completed novels – none of which had had been published – she was on the verge … Continue reading →

Those who have been to the Festival of Writing will know James Law – the author of this guest post – very well. Here James tells us about his journey to the top and what it took for him to … Continue reading →

Kerry Fisher is doing a workshop with her agent, Clare Wallace from Darley Anderson, about the all-important agent/author relationship at this year’s Festival of Writing. Kerry knows about life on both sides of the publishing fence. Her debut novel, The … Continue reading →

A guest post by M.K. Tod author and blogger at A Writer of History. A longer bio (with links) follows at the end of this piece We’ve been socializing over reading for centuries, book clubs being one example, salons being … Continue reading →

Today’s pearls of wisdom come from Cal Moriarty: a novelist and screenwriter, the only European screenwriter chosen for the prestigious Hollywood Blacklist Labs through which she is developing her feature Katherine & Virginia. Her debut novel, The Killing of Bobbi … Continue reading →

This is a guest post from crime author and former police officer, Clare Mackintosh. Clare’s I Let You Go is published in paperback by Sphere today. Whether you’re a published crime writer or an aspiring one, you’ll need to know … Continue reading →

Fergus McNeill – thriller author and app developer – has spent years watching the app industry race to the bottom on pricing. Here are his thoughts on what that experience can teach us about ebook pricing. Fergus’s most recent thriller, … Continue reading →

The authors concerned were 40% British/Irish, 60% North American. They were typically:

highly experienced

recently published

and allied with big publishing.

We had over 800 responses and got some damned interesting responses back. You should really truly take a look at that Agent Hunter post but, to get you salivating, just take a look at these little lovelies:

Our comment: not surprising, but a very impressive performance. Well done trad publishing!

Our comment: Yikes! This is not so great. And other questions on communications / marketing were also dispiriting.

Our comment: not nearly good enough. We hope this improves!

Our comment: this data is for agented authors only and goes to show that agents are on the whole doing a terrific job. It also goes to show that authors are perfectly capable of being content . . . but that publishers have a good bit further to go before they earn that author loyalty.

Anyone who’s ever published a novel has had, or will have, this experience: you’ll be at a party, or some other public gathering, and someone you barely know will approach you and say, “So you’re a writer. I’ve an idea … Continue reading →

Our guest-blogger today is Laurence O’Bryan – a novelist with HarperCollins (more) but also a pioneer in the field of using social media for book promotion. His BooksGoSocial site offers a range of promotional tools to help (primarily) self-pub work … Continue reading →

Are you a traditionally published author? Would you like the opportunity to say clearly and in detail what you do and don’t like about traditional publishing? Then please complete our survey which asks about everything you’ve always wanted to talk about.

This survey is a joint venture between Agent Hunter, our sister site, and Jane Friedman in the US. Our aim is simply to get the most authoritative possible view of the industry from the perspective of the author.

We have no agenda except discovering the truth.

We will publish the results when we close the survey (towards the end of March.)

The survey is open to all authors who have published traditionally (including, for example, with an academic press or a digital-only publisher), whether or not they have also self-published.

I’m Harry Bingham. I’ve never previously written in detail about my adventures in the land of publishing, but here it is: the full story. I hope it’s of interest. These blog posts are timed to coincide with the release of … Continue reading →

I’m Harry Bingham. I’ve never previously written in detail about my adventures in the land of publishing, but here it is: the full story. I hope it’s of interest. These blog posts are timed to coincide with the release of … Continue reading →

I’m Harry Bingham. I’ve never previously written in detail about my adventures in the land of publishing, but here it is: the full story. I hope it’s of interest. These blog posts are timed to coincide with the release of … Continue reading →

About This Blog

This is the house blog of the Writers' Workshop - and thank you for showing up. We have a fair few guest posts (usually by authors or literary agents), but most posts are the work of Harry Bingham, a crime novelist and founder of the WW. If you would like to write a guest post for us, please check our guidelines, then get in touch.